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LEADERSHIP

Blaisdell Returns to Doubled Workload

President Blaisdell returned from a yearlong sabbatical in Europe to a doubled workload as the chief executive of both Pomona College and the new consortium, incorporated the previous year. 

STUDENT LIFE

Last Pole Rush

The traditional annual brawl between the sophomore men and the freshman men called the Pole Rush—the object being to get the class's “colors” to the top of the pole and keep it there for a minimum required time—was held for the last time in 1926. 

Daily Newspaper

In 1926, The Student Life (Pomona’s student newspaper) increased its schedule from three issues a week to five, publishing from Tuesday through Saturday. Funded by a required Associated Students fee and by a growing volume of national advertising, the newspaper continued through the Great Depression as a daily, cutting back in 1933 to four issues a week. By 1935, it returned to five issues.

Claremont Bootlegger

From the 1927 Metate (published by the junior class in 1926): “The best bootlegger in the whole neighborhood of Claremont has been caught. The improved behavior of the college men is very noticeable.”

Pomona Slang

Student slang used in the 1927 Metate (published in 1926) included the terms “sheik” for an attractive man, and “sheba” for an attractive woman.

EVENTS

Campus Filming: One Minute to Play

In 1926, much of the filming for a silent film starring Harold “Red” Grange, titled One Minute to Play, was filmed on campus, including a very recognizable scene from Memorial Courtyard.

CONSORTIUM

Founding of Scripps College

Scripps College for Women was founded in 1926, with Pomona Trustee Jacob C. Harper serving as its first Board Chair and Pomona’s Dean of Faculty Ernest J. Jaqua as its first president.

ELSEWHERE

  • Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts.
  • The sudden death of popular Hollywood actor and sex symbol Rudolph Valentino at the age of 31 caused mass grief and hysteria around the world.
  • U.S. Route 66 was established.